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Exploring the Antarctic in a Volkswagen Beetle

December 5, 2012

When Volkswagen shipped a Beetle off to our southernmost continent to be part of the 1963 Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, the German concern had only constructed 6 million of the rear-engined, air-cooled little buggers.

The final tally landed somewhere around 21 million. In '63, 18 years into the car's postwar production run and four years into Dane Doyle Bernbach's memorable and influential “Think Small” advertising campaign, the VW Type 1 had established itself as a versatile and nigh-indestructible paragon of econo goodness.

That same year, a Southern California dude named Bruce Meyers fitted a fiberglass body to VW running gear and created something he called the Manx. In 1967, he used one to win the Baja 1000.

Antarctica, however, is a markedly different kettle of desolate than the deserts of Baja California. For one, it is, as the Alta California kids say, “hella cold.” It's also slippery, icy, and varying other manners of frigidly inhospitable. The Leona Helmsley of land masses, if you will.

The polar region's fine-grained snowflakes have a tendency to get everywhere, so a simple cover for the air intake was devised to keep them out while the car was parked. An extra 6V battery was added to aid in cold-weather starts. Otherwise, the car was basically equipped as it would've been sold in Sweden or Finland.

After serving admirably in the Antarctic (though the rough terrain did require occasional welding around the torsion bars' attachment points), the Bug was shipped back to Australia for a publicity tour. Like Amelia Earheart and Vasco de Gama before it, the plucky explorer's whereabouts are unknown. Actually, de Gama's remains are in Portugal. Has anybody looked in Portugal?